


As Good As It Gets

by Meowser_Clancy



Series: Jimel Family AU [7]
Category: Ghost Whisperer
Genre: F/M, Gen, family au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-04-23 03:09:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14323260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meowser_Clancy/pseuds/Meowser_Clancy
Summary: A collection of 31 prompts created by myself and GhostWhispererFangirl. Part of my family AU for Jim and Melinda where he didn't die but just lost his memory. They have five eventual kids, Aiden, Benedict, Elizabeth, Oliver and Andrea. Yes, this is a terrible description but if you've read How It Always Is then you know what I'm talking about.





	1. #1: Fuck Me

“I’m your wife.”

The words rang too loud in the near empty room. Jim paused where he stood by the window and Melinda could see the tenseness in his shoulders.

“And I know you don’t believe that right now. I know what the doctors said. I know it’s been weeks and everyone is telling me to move on, to give you space, that I can’t force this, but Jim.”

The cry in her voice frightened her. The way his name was ripped from her like it hurt.

Because it did hurt. Because every damn thing about this process had hurt.

“Fuck you,” he whispered. She felt her heart freeze. “I can’t do this, okay? I’m sorry, but I don’t know you. And the you you’ve introduced to me I haven’t been favorably impressed with.”

She felt her heart scream.

“You know what, Jim Clancy?” She hissed, stepping forward. “You are not the same man. I have no idea how you turned into the guy I fell in love with because there is no sign of him in the you that’s here now.”

She was closer to him now, so close she could reach out and touch him. So close that she did, her palm flattening on his chest to shove him backwards. “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you to remember me? Do you know how long you’ve just refused? Do you know how long you’ve been intentionally hurting me?”

He was staring at her, how her hand was balling into his shirt, pulling it taut. “Fuck you,” she said, voice broken, and her hand dropped.

“No, that’s not fair,” Jim said, grabbing her wrist, and her body thrilled at the touch, even though her mind had a different reaction. “Yeah, I’m not the same person but Melinda? As far as I can remember, my father just died two weeks after telling my mom that he’d cheated on her. Two weeks after I told him I’d never speak to him again. My brother is gone, and I took a chance to go after the job of my dreams but instead now I’m in school again, depressed, and my dad hated me for leaving his firm.”

He stared down at her, his blue gaze painful in its intensity. “And I’ve got this woman,” he hissed. “Telling me that I’m her husband and begging me to make time for her. Melinda, I’m not married. The guy I am now, the guy your Jim was...he just wanted to fuck someone.”

“Then fuck me,” she shot back. “And maybe then you’ll remember.”

He recoiled, shocked. She felt the regret sting her, wished she hadn’t said the words.

But god. It had been so long since Jim had touched her. Maybe...just maybe...  
This would be enough to get closure. To move on. If he made love to her one last time, and it was nothing like it should be.

Maybe then her heart would get the message that Jim was gone. And gone for good.

“I mean it,” she whispered, knowing that she could only lose him, so why not go the final mile and drive him away, if it got her what she needed.

And he was smiling, one that showed no joy. “Okay,” he said, and she almost shrieked because he reached to pick her up, arms going beneath her knees and knocking her off her feet.

She was tight in his arms and he was walking through the doorway to the bedroom on the other side, almost throwing her onto the bed there.

He wasn’t being gentle. Jim was always gentle, even when he was rough.

Yes. This would be enough to break her heart for good.

Her mind was running at a thousand different speeds, and her heart was jumping, and she was fucking terrified, but she was more excited, and already painfully aroused, than she’d been in months.

This would hurt. But it would be so, so good.

He was so big. She’d almost forgotten, mainly because he’d never before intimidated her.

He was now.

Crawling onto the bed and bracing himself above her.

And then his lips crashed into hers and it wasn’t tender at first, it was unforgiving, taking and not giving.

And then it changed.

Suddenly his touch changed. His hands, before rough on her chest, suddenly became hesitant.

He rolled onto his back, taking her with him, sliding her on top and then she was on his chest, kissing him like she’d never kissed him before. She could feel the tears on her face dripping onto his, making the kiss wet, as he opened his lips to suck her tongue into his mouth, as he shyly caressed her breasts.

His hands were going to the shoulder of her dress and then he was pulling it down, the stretchy material giving away with ease. It was down to her waist, and then he was unsnapping her bra, and it was falling away.

And his hands were covering her breasts, cradling them, and he was moaning, pulling away to push her to a seated position, straddled atop him. “You’re so tiny,” he marveled. “I barely feel your weight but then you’ve got these.” He groaned, his fingers pulling her nipples into tight points. “Baby. They aren’t small.”

She moaned in return, because this was almost too much to bear. Hearing Jim speak so tenderly. Even if it wasn’t her Jim.

And he was craning his neck up to taste her breasts, pull them into his mouth. He was swirling his tongue around her nipple before finally suckling on them. He was making her crazy.

She slid off of stomach, moving to take her dress off the rest of the way and his eyes darkened as she kicked it away, only wanting one thing now.

Her hands went to the button on his jeans, fumbling, and he did it for her, whipping his belt off, letting her glide the jeans down his hips.

“I’ve thought about this, you know,” Jim rasped. “I know I shouldn’t have, because it wasn’t right. You were his wife, but you aren’t mine. Not yet anyway. But all I could do was wonder...”

She blocked out his voice because it was too hard to hear, and she slid her mouth onto his dick, feeling her mind almost explode. This was too much for her to process. This was so crazy.

But here she was, sucking him off, and he was moving to caress her breasts again.

“Baby, I want to see your ass,” he told her, and then gasped when her movements on his penis became more quick. “Oh my god.”

He let her service him for a minute more and then, hands trembling, grabbed her head, gently guiding her mouth up to meet his, and then he was on top of her, sheltering her. His fingers sliding down to her thighs, and inside to the wet heat that waited for him.

“Oh my god,” he breathed. “Melinda.”

He said her name. She felt her heart breaking and she moaned his name back, jerking in response to his fingers on her clit. “Jim.”

“Oh fuck me,” he told her. “I want you on top.”

She gazed up at him, dizzy and drunk on this moment.

“Yeah,” she whispered, and he rolled onto his back, watching as she moved to again straddle him, eyes dark. He grasped her hips, when she let him, easing her onto his dick.

And her body cried out. It had missed this. It had missed his length inside her, it had been crying for it for a long time now. She felt the tears pouring down her face but she couldn’t stop, wouldn’t stop. She was bouncing, gliding up and down his length, feeling the heavy weight of her breasts jounce and feeling his gaze there.

They were both moaning, both gasping. She was losing her mind, and she was taking him with her.

Apparently this Jim didn’t last as long.

But he lasted just long enough. His fingers slid between her thighs and found her clit again, making her shatter just before he let himself go too, and then she was falling onto him, panting, feeling his arms come around her, tight, warm, like they’d never let go.

“Melinda,” he breathed.

“I love you,” she whimpered. “God, Jim, I love you so much.”

And just like that. Moment over.

She felt him freeze.

“This was a mistake,” he said.

He was still inside her. She didn’t want to lose him but suddenly she couldn’t stay. Couldn’t be here with this version of him. Because it wasn’t her Jim. And in the heat of the moment she’d actually forgotten that.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, as she slid off of him, jumped from the bed, looked blindly around for her clothes. “I am so sorry, Melinda. I had no right.”

She couldn’t even speak as she dressed, because she could feel the tears. She could feel everything, about to erupt.

She practically flew from his apartment, running down the stairs so fast she almost fell.

She barely made it to the car before she started to cry. Deep, body ravaging sobs. Tears that took her breath away, an ache deep in her heart that made it hard to breathe.

The pain had been bad before, but never as life shattering as this.

She leaned against her car door, sat on the pavement, unable to even make it inside, thanking god that it was dark and no one was around and there was no one to see her like this.  
  
No one to pity her.

Everyone pitied her.

The tears gradually slowed. A long, long time later she felt her breath return back to normal, and an even longer time later than that she made it into the car, turned the key in the ignition, drove home to an empty house.

She would never let herself cry over Jim Clancy again.

As far as she was concerned, he was gone. And that was a truth she should have accepted long ago.

 


	2. Sunshine (You Are My)

She was his sun. His moon. His stars. 

 

Casey Fujimoto stared across the third grade classroom, finally ducking his head. 

 

Andi Clancy was the most beautiful girl he’d ever met, and one of the nicest, too. This was only his second day at Grandview Elementary. No one had talked to him yesterday.

 

No one but her. 

 

She had black hair, blue eyes. He had black hair too, and didn’t meet many people with hair as dark as his. 

 

But she wasn’t half Asian.

 

Casey was already painfully aware of the differences when you were, and weren’t, of racial backgrounds. He had worn nearly the same outfit every day last year, because his parents were working  _ all the time  _ just to ‘make ends meet’ as his mother would say, distractedly preparing lunch for him.

 

And his dad, a scientist, or he had been one. Until ‘things changed’ and they’d moved to Grandview like this. Now his dad was a janitor.

 

Casey bit his lip. Eight years old and he already knew too much. About racism and how hard you have to work to make ends meet. About how mean kids could be. 

 

About how a beautiful girl could change everything. Make everything better. 

 

She was his sunshine. He knew then that she’d always be able to make him smile. Just to see her would make him smile.

 

He wanted to be her friend. He wanted to hang out with her. He wanted to be the boy she liked best. 

 

He wanted everything. 


	3. Winning

Benny didn’t like losing. 

 

He aligned himself for the next shot, feeling the buzz of the crowd and knowing that there were only a few minutes left on the clock. 

 

He needed to win this game. 

 

It was the last one in summer camp. If he won this game, the Blue cabin won the trophy and he could return a hero next year.

 

He bit his lip. 

 

And god knew he needed that. 

 

The eleven year old had been an outcast all of camp, even though last year had been just fine. Last year he’d learned to swim under water for more than a few minutes, he and Silas Jansen had rowed til they had blisters on their hands, and he’d told the best ghost story at the opening campfire.

 

Of course, that wasn’t hard. He knew a  _ lot  _ of really good ghost stories. And most of them (rather, all of them) were true.

 

He still remembered being able to see ghosts. He remembered his uncle. He remembered all the nurses and doctors at his dad’s job. He remembered Carl, even. 

 

Most kids didn’t have that, he knew. Most kids completely lost those memories, as they were replaced by other, more important things. As they got told to stop talking to imaginary friends, they stopped thinking of those memories as important. 

 

Benny would never not think of them as important. His heart ached for the day when he’d been able to see ghosts. He’d been one of the family, then. 

 

And now…

 

He looked over at the sidelines. It was the last day of camp and parents were there to pick them up. He could see his dad, holding Oliver on his shoulders, and his mom, cradling Andi. Aiden was watching too, a little less interested, and Lee was dancing around. 

 

It was time to go almost right after the game. There was a celebration bonfire, but the Clancy’s couldn’t stay. Dad had some operation early in the morning. 

 

At first, Benny had minded hearing that. He’d wanted his parents to stay and meet all of his cabin mates. 

 

But then…

 

Adam had happened. 

 

Benny had been having these feelings coming on for a bit now. He’d quietly register that while other boys were talking about the girls they had crushes on, he didn’t have one to add to the list. 

 

But he did have a boy. He hadn’t before summer camp. None of the boys at his school in Grandview held any interest. 

 

But Adam Ryan…

 

God. Blue eyes, blond hair. Slim build, almost too skinny, but his arms were ropy, and strong. He was the fastest on the rope climb, and he could run a mile in what seemed like seconds. 

 

Benny hadn’t been able to breathe the first time he’d seen Adam. Of course, that had been because he’d just been running himself, doing sprints with Jacob and Dean. 

 

But he’d looked up in the middle of taking a drink of water to see Adam standing there, seemingly glowing in the bright sunlight.

 

He snapped back to the current moment, feeling the sun beat down on him. Adam was part of the Red cabin. 

 

He wanted to beat Adam. Adam was the reason that this year had been hell for Benny. Adam was the reason that Benny almost didn’t want to come back, but was dying to come back. 

 

Because Adam knew. Somehow Adam knew that Benny was in love with him, and he’d tortured him with it. He’d made sly remarks, not quite coming out and saying it, and soon it had spread around all camp like wildfire. The girls were no longer friendly. Neither were most of the boys. 

 

Jacob and Dean had tried at first, but then they got frozen out too. So they’d stopped.

 

Soccer had become Benny’s only way to be accepted. He’d won a game for the Blue cabin, with a showstopping goal, and his cabin mates had, grudgingly, accepted him again. 

 

Still. He had no desire to stay for this bonfire. He knew that someone would say something.

 

And Benny wasn’t ready for any of those conversations yet. 

 

He bit his lip, feeling everyone’s eyes on him. 

 

Dean passed to Jacob, who passed to Sarah, and Sarah was intercepted by Rachel, who neatly ducked past Adam. 

 

Adam. 

 

Benny shook his head, meeting the other boy’s eyes from across the playing field.

 

Adam’s lips moved. He was mouthing words.

 

Benny turned away and intercepted the pass, stealing the ball from Rachel, who shrieked. 

 

Benny made the goal. A few seconds later, the ref’s whistle sounded.

 

Benny had won the game. 

 

He heard people talking, cheering. His teammates were happy. 

 

He turned and saw Adam again, far across the playing field. The boy’s face was downcast and Benny wondered. 

 

He remembered last night, a night that he’d sworn to forget. A night that had broken his heart and made this win all the more important.

 

Adam had kissed him. 

 

Benny caught Adam’s gaze and Adam rolled his eyes, giving up on mouthing the words. “I’m sorry,” he yelled. 

 

In the crowd, no one else heard the words. Benny felt his lips break into a smile. He just nodded, and then walked to his family. 

 

He’d won. 


	4. Gloating

Lee picked up the slice of pizza, looking down at Amanda. “I’ve finished my part,” she said conclusively. “We agreed to split this project 50/50 and yours was the report, and mine was the diorama.” She pointed to the still drying figures currently taking up her parents’ dining room table.

“But this is boring,” Amanda sighed, flopping onto her back.

“Well, it’s our fault for waiting til the last minute,” Lee said. “But I still finished my part.”

“Can’t you help with mine?” Amanda whined. “You usually do the writing.”

“Yeah, and then you said that writing was the easy part and you wanted it this time,” Lee shot back.

Amanda covered her head with a pillow. “I didn’t say that,” she groaned, but the two girls both knew Lee was telling the truth. “I’ll pay for you next time we go to the movies,” she offered.

“No,” Lee said, going over to the tiny figures in the diorama, fingering the animals, and then straightening one side of the miniature zoo structure.

“Ummm…” Amanda mused. “I’ll tell Jackson to ask you out.”

“Ew,” Lee replied. “He’s so last year.”

Amanda rolled her eyes. “What can I do to get you to write the report for me?”

“Nothing,” Lee said. “Write the report yourself. I’m done with this project.”

“You are?”

Lee jerked her head, surprised to see her dad’s face in the doorway, even more surprised to hear his voice. “Dad!” She exclaimed. “You’re home so early!”

“I know,” he said, brushing his hair back from his face. He really needed a haircut, and had for a couple weeks now, but he was so busy lately…

“Hey, Amanda,” he greeted his daughter’s guest. “How’s life?”

“It’s okay, Mr. Clancy,” she replied. “Too much work, not enough fun.”

“Sadly, that only gets worse as you get older,” he replied. “You know how many years med school is?”

“Don’t remind me,” Amanda said morosely. “I already want to just be a nurse, not a full doctor. It’s already too much work.”

“Too much science,” Lee agreed. “I am not looking forward to chemistry next year.”

“High school,” Amanda shuddered.

Jim laughed out loud. “Aren’t you supposed to look forward to high school?” He mused. “When I was your age, being in high school seemed to be the most important thing. Still being thirteen, just in eighth grade...no one thought you were cool. Even the cool kids knew that they paled in comparison to high school kids. Although funny thing…” He leaned against the doorway, a bit lost in the past. “Once they got to high school, they weren’t cool anymore. Just more lost freshman. They had to fight to regain that status, and not all of them made it.”

“Were you cool in school, Mr. Clancy?” Amanda wondered.

He scoffed. “Cool? I guess I was?” He moved to sit down on one of the chairs, thinking about it. “I didn’t try to be but I knew that I was. I played sports. I was one of those guys. Not the one who gets voted prom king but the one who doesn’t get the head cheerleader pregnant. Fringe, I guess.”

Lee raised an eyebrow. “Your prom king got the head cheerleader pregnant?”

“Yeah, and she wasn’t even the prom queen or his girlfriend,” Jim said. “That was a rocky year for Steven.”

“Well, it serves him right,” Amanda said. “Players deserve to be taken back down to earth sometimes.”

“I’m not sure it did him any good,” Jim sighed. “Sometimes it just doesn’t. And hey, look at me. Not the coolest guy but I think I’m better off for it. Popularity...isn’t everything. Or anything, for that matter.” He stood up. “I’m going to go shower, and then go figure out what I need to make dinner. Anything you’re interested in, Lee? Amanda/?”

“S’mores,” Lee said, almost immediately. “I’ve been thinking about them all day.”

“Not a dinner food,” Jim laughed. “We’ll see.”

Amanda popped up. “I vote pizza,” she said.

“That’s one thought,” Jim mused. “I could start the dough now…”

“I meant, like, pizza hut,” Amanda said once Jim had left, going to the kitchen instead of upstairs.

“My dad is really into making all our food right now,” Lee said. “Some article he read online, I don’t know. Everything so far has been really good, though, except for some pea soup.” She shuddered.

Amanda stared at the dining room door. “My parents’ definition of cooking is putting something in the microwave,” she said.

“I know, I’ve eaten at your house,” Lee laughed, and realized an instant too late that that was probably something you shouldn’t joke about.

Amanda’s face had tightened a little.

“Hey, give me the paper,” Lee said. “I’ll write the report.”

The awkward moment was gone. “Really?” Amanda said.

“Yeah,” Lee sighed. Not losing Amanda over a dumb comment was more important than doing less work on a project. Besides, she’d end up writing it anyway. Amanda would procrastinate til the last second, bring in something half written, and Lee would have to finish it in first period.

They might as well get an A instead of the usual B.

The time for gloating was over. She had to work now. 


End file.
